Cowboy was in the ribbons in March, getting Res. CH. I wonder what they did in a month to get him to the behavior we saw in the video. Or what they gave him to get him to go so good in March, maybe? The pony had to be in terrible pain; those old saint packers tough it through a lot when their little people are on board.
[QUOTE=rustbreeches;8117787]
https://www.facebook.com/72279694042/photos/pb.72279694042.-2207520000.1429725914./10153093545599043/?type=1&theater
Cowboy was in the ribbons in March, getting Res. CH. I wonder what they did in a month to get him to the behavior we saw in the video. Or what they gave him to get him to go so good in March, maybe? The pony had to be in terrible pain; those old saint packers tough it through a lot when their little people are on board.[/QUOTE]
This. This is what ticks me off when I see people try to say “Oh we don’t know what happened other than this 1:30 bit of video” or “How would YOU have handled it differently”. Now, if they don’t know it’s a school pony, I’ll give them a pass.
But, it’s a school pony. Yes, pony IS a four letter word, but for pony who has packed enough kids around and pulled enough ribbons knows its job, something else is up. In my 30+ years in hunter/jumpers, I can’t even understand how this Kim got in this position with any horse, ESPECIALLY a schoolie, and thought beating it from one end of the ring to the other was the answer. Even for a schoolie who turns up the degree of difficulty when they know they’ve got a more experienced kid on board.
If this was my pony and behavioral issues came out of the blue, the first thing I would think is, “What’s hurt? What’s breaking down on him?” not “What a little a*****e.” and beat the snot out of it.
I still want to know if the names she drops on her resume would actually vouch for her. You’re going to throw it out there for public consumption and for us to be impressed, show me the receipts.
And you want your stomach to really turn about the owner, feel free to look her up on Facebook and scroll down to the picture of Cowboy and the caption (it’s public):
“Today is the 5th Year Anniversary of my business Cumberland Riding Academy. Here is a picture of Cowboy the first horse I ever bought! I am so happy about what the last five years have given me, and even more excited about what the future has in store! I love my job, I know I am very blessed, I have no family here so I am very grateful for my CRA family”
I want to give this woman the benefit of the doubt that she’s been RIDING for about 10 years and she’s being taken for a ride by industry vultures, but I can’t excuse not throwing someone off my farm who beat the snot out my pony, who is supposed to be so near and dear to my heart.
This picture from 2012 pretty much sums up my entire experience with Cowboy:
A saint of a pony who took care of even the tiniest of kids.
Those who are skeptical about the situation need to flip through those pictures.
The latest update from the “anonymous” Facebook page that brought this situation to light:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009465430869
Many messages have been received asking about the trainer’s employment status at CRA. It appears as though the trainer is still employed and giving riding lessons today. We have also been informed that the children present during the incident have been banned from the property.
I am 0% surprised.
Wow, nice… I hope that their reputation spreads far and wide, re how they are handling this. Regardles of guilt/innocence, those were kids who tapes that and shared it out of concern for that pony, and that is a valiant, brave thing for them to have done.
Honestly, I would let the media know that the kids who taped this are now banned from that facility as well… this needs sunlight and lots of it.
If I had a barn those kids would be welcomed with open arms.
Terrible, just terrible
[QUOTE=ybiaw;8116788]
I guess I mean that I like that they clarified that they are NOT sponsoring them, welfare of the horses is important to them, and they’re escalating it higher up than just the person who checks their Facebook.[/QUOTE]
Not SPONSORING them but happy to take their money. Which I guess is normal/capitalism. I guess I don’t see how they can refuse a sale if the barn wants to buy supplements. I would think they’d ask the barn to take down any statement that implies sponsorship since that’s untrue.
I am just sickened over this video. When is it ever alright to hit a horse in the head with a whip?
Also the lunge line on the ground and how she seemed to be wrapped in it showed her lack of horsemanship. I just don’t understand how this went from the horse not wanting to go forward which was shown in the 1st video to smacking the horse in the head with a whip and with the lunge line.
I mean come on, this horse looks like a saint. Maybe he was having an off day or is sore. Fine, that happens, but there are ways to work through it. Getting off when the horse stood up was stupid. Then waiting for the lunge line to smack the horse in the face was stupid. It showed no plan for working through the initial issue, the horse not going forward. It showed a woman who wanted to get revenge against the horse that stood up. Stupid, nasty woman. Not someone I would ever want near my children or horse.
Oh, god bless him, he’s precious. Look at his sweet face!
I’d like to get a longe whip after that hussy and beat her like a pinata. It’s definitely true that where knowledge ends frustration begins. She seems to know nothing else to do other than thrash the pony for not going forward. He’s obviously DONE with it, and who can blame him?
I noticed there were three short clips on Youtube, and in the first one she’s on the pony’s back when he first starts refusing to go forward. He reared up on her (and I was hoping she was about to meet the dirt, but alas, no such luck), and that’s when she got off and asked for the longe line. I also noticed in a different clip, the person taking the video actually says something like, “I think you’ve freaked him out.”
The woman is ignorant. It’s always hard to see ignorant people punishing horses. Anyone with a grain of sense should figure out that a pony willing to take that harsh of a beating rather than move forward is obviously dealing with some physical pain or is just completely mentally fried at that point. There IS a reason, but this woman is too clueless to troubleshoot or look at it as anything other than a blow to her ego.
I hope Cowboy prevails. And I hope people keep posting videos of abusive training all over youtube. Maybe it’ll keep these morons in check or out of the business altogether.
It looks like the post claiming to have “partnered” with SmartPak has been removed from their Facebook page. CWD was still there last I looked. Hopefully SmartPak asked them to remove it.
I said this on the other post as well but in that third video clip I was hoping the pony would defend itself and kick her! This is sickening and makes my heart hurt 
The poor pony looks so freaking confused. How can someone teach and train and be so oblivious?
I am so glad that today EVERYONE has the ability to capture things like this on video and bring it to the attention of the proper authorities. Judging from what people have said about the pony on here, this abuse is even more horrible. That pony had no idea what this bitch wanted from him and to behave in the manner she did is beyond horrible. You never hit a horse in the face, no matter what. I hope she is properly dealt with.
[QUOTE=Davignport;8119093]
I am so glad that today EVERYONE has the ability to capture things like this on video and bring it to the attention of the proper authorities. Judging from what people have said about the pony on here, this abuse is even more horrible. That pony had no idea what this bitch wanted from him and to behave in the manner she did is beyond horrible. You never hit a horse in the face, no matter what. I hope she is properly dealt with.[/QUOTE]
Nope. She hasn’t been. Texarkana has filled us in on the local level and provided local resources, who according to them, the kid who taped has been banned and Kim was teaching this week. Hopefully rate my horse pro WILL stay on top of it. They scrubbed their facebook, they still have their sponsorships (Smartpak claims they never really sponsored the ), which as I understand it, CWD’s TN rep defended them several times. I know people wrote USEF, but who knows what they could actually do?
I get the legal process takes a while, but here we have document abuse and they’re PR spinning it. I know coth threads come up high in google searches, but since their names aren’t in the thread title, will this thread show up if someone googles their name?
Has anyone confirmed the ‘trainers’ claims of who she has ridden/trained with/for in the past? It was a list with some well known names on it…
That this farm owner thinks sticking with this trainer, in light of those videos, and banning the kids is the way to go… says a lot to me.
I find it interesting that a group called “Take Down Rate My Horse Pro” has created a Facebook page and is trying to get people to write their sponsors that the page is horrible. If it wasn’t for that site I would have never known about this abusive video and I trust no one else would have known and this woman would have gone on unnoticed and beating animals. It is important for people to see news stories and form their own opinions or judgments on what they are seeing. At least Rate My Horse Pro (like Chronicle too) is willing to report the bad stories and good stories and take the heat that may come from those that may not agree.
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[QUOTE=Angela Freda;8119165]
Has anyone confirmed the ‘trainers’ claims of who she has ridden/trained with/for in the past? It was a list with some well known names on it…[/QUOTE]
My general rule for reading trainer bios is that when they offer a list of well known names in that format, it generally means “took a clinic with rodney jenkins once.”
I could easily write myself a bio that I trained and worked with some big names, and wouldn’t be lying, though they wouldn’t have the foggiest notion of who I was. I’ve audited George Morris clinics and rode with Greg Best for a week, and Boyd Martin used my bathroom once. I traded emails with Leslie Burr and Beezie Madden. I learned things from all of them! Hire me as your trainer now!
[QUOTE=caffeinated;8119299]
My general rule for reading trainer bios is that when they offer a list of well known names in that format, it generally means “took a clinic with rodney jenkins once.”
I could easily write myself a bio that I trained and worked with some big names, and wouldn’t be lying, though they wouldn’t have the foggiest notion of who I was. I’ve audited George Morris clinics and rode with Greg Best for a week, and Boyd Martin used my bathroom once. I traded emails with Leslie Burr and Beezie Madden. I learned things from all of them! Hire me as your trainer now![/QUOTE]
Hey I must know you, I worked with Judgement when he was a colt, and you are BFFs with Beezie! 
That’s kinda’ what I am wondering.
The Facebook page for this farm states that this ‘trainer’ was in FL the winter before her hire showing with Todd Minikus… danged if I can find anything that confirms that… like, you know, show results…
I feel bad that the whistleblower, as usual, suffered personal consequences as a result of their good deed. Hope the kid that taped is ok emotionally and finds another barn.
Also, if this “training” is all above board (of course not, but she’s still there working), why care if a video is spread around?
They have changed their main photo to a pic of the facility, and taken off the post and pic of their “wonderful trainer”. Comments have been deleted all over.
